Lately, I’ve been watching Trainwrecords non-stop, a fantastic series on YouTube about albums that completely derailed the careers of bands and singers. This made me think that there must be some good cases within visual kei.
An obvious exemple of a trainwreck is the infamous MISC., but there must be more.
So, I would like to know your opinion, which albums killed or almost killed the career of a VK band? Do you know any interesting stories about how these disasters occurred?
I can’t say that either of these releases necessarily “killed” the bands, rather differences in musical direction between members, but they were certainly flawed. Disbandment after a full album is actually pretty common in vk iirc, since the bands pour their cumulative work, money, and energy into their first one and then completely run out of steam after the fact.
イケナイKISS and subsequently this release were a huge departure from their original sound, leaning into this synth-heavy EDMR or “Electronic Dance Rock”. I vaguely recall CHISA mingling and/or doing DJ stuff during this time. A couple months after EDR TOKYO released, Satoshi and Chobi decide to leave due to musical differences and the band disbands in October of that year.
I personally really loved this era, but I can see why it was troublesome since a lot of it effectively drowned out the instrumentals.
This album, their only one that wasn’t the best-of that came out this January, was pretty underwhelming compared to the releases of B.P.'s then-artist lineup, and some of the re-recorded tracks were worse than the originals. Vambi then proceeded to become this odd but illustrious YouTuber so all’s well, ends well I guess 
. When his fans on YT started going through his “vk era”, they said his voice at :59 was a dead ringer for Nyanchu, and I will NEVER be able to unhear that.
MAR MAROON by 12012 marked their first shift in sound, from hard rock to pop, and it marked the beginning of a long, downward spiral into mediocrity.
Maybe Gangsta by Sadie. They released it back in 2014 and they disbanded around like 2015. It was such a confusing release. They did a reverse 12012 by going hard into the Diruboros sound and then doing an almost 180 and going into kind of an experimental direction. Not in a good way though. They were pulling it all out. Jazz-kei, rap verses, corny as sheet electronics, freaking dj scratches. But it was hardly conceptual or cohesive. It sounded like they pulled out a wheel of choices for each song and incorporated the first 3 things they hit with a dart.
It’s almost like they were tired of the comparisons to Dir en grey and pulled out this album as a middle fingers to the haters. And subsequnetly, the fans (probably) suffered too. I don’t think this album released to critical acclaim. I didn’t like it. But I hadn’t really liked anything from the band past their Crymore single.
Maybe they were just tapped out and needed a fun outlet and it was purely to fulfill an album release agreement. Makes sense considering Mao and Mizuki created The Thirteen soon after and started making heavy music again
“Now” by Girugamesh. Even after “Music” there was a lot of hype surrounding this band. After “Now”, all of that hype magically disappeared.
I’d argue it was GO and they needed that break/hiatus after GO and managed to escape that awful pop ballad phase
I’m not sure I have anything different to say, but I agree with what I see here especially regarding girugamesh and DIV. After DIV released EDR Tokyo I was like oh, yeah. They’re definitely done.
does it have to be one album/mini album or a combination? Cuz there’s dimlim…
MYV☆POPS
Magmatic take: Sug life
Dezert - Black Hole
As an extension of the aforementioned Girugamesh, I think there was a bunch of bands at that time who tried to be next L’arc en ciel and once it became evident it wasn’t going to happen, disbandment or a purging hiatus was in the cards. D’espairsray definitively made moves into this direction with Redeemer’s singles.
it was still K, the real tragedy started after his 2010 music
I liked some songs from what’s my name… but myv pops, with the shit-tier JPOP singles leading up to it, really was a soul sucking experience for me
v-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-om
(fun fact: one of producers who worked on deg’s gauze is credited on myv shits which i learned like a month ago and still shake my head in shame once in a while)
Also Royz with something around The World is Mine, they dropped screams and now they get newbie vk band tier views despite trying to recover
I kinda have a feeling a lot of people interpret the thread as “what album killed a band for you” … because a lot of the artists mentioned here still have a caarer. DEZERT even did go major and their concerts sell very well. A lot of their concerts for their spring tour already sold out. 
Felt this.
I kinda thought about brining MYV up since even I’m not that big a fan of his anymore, but he obviously has a super successful career, it’s just not like, indie rock anymore
I feel like Baboo’s whole persona/album was just eh. You had one song about the diaper wearing lead singer singing about happiness or some shit, then the next song was tim burton-esque and another about his mom. Confusing.
Agree. NOW still had some fun songs, though it was a step down from MUSIC. ‘GO’ was 100% total trash and mid-career garbage. I hated that album and what it did to girugamesh. Right down to its corny and uninspired album cover.
Luckily, they redeemed themselves after though.
Yeah, REDEEEMER and MONSTER just didn’t hit the way Coll:set and MIRROR did.